Arteta hits back at Aubameyang, saying he was ‘solution, not the problem’

Arsenal’s Spanish manager Mikel Arteta gestures on the touchline during the English Premier League football match between Arsenal and Fulham at the Emirates Stadium in London on April 18, 2021. (Photo by FACUNDO ARRIZABALAGA / POOL / AFP) /

Arsenal boss Mikel Arteta said on Wednesday he was the “solution, not the problem” following former captain Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang’s departure from the club after a series of disciplinary problems.

Aubameyang left the Emirates Stadium for Barcelona last week after agreeing on a contract termination with the English side, allowing him to sign for the Catalan giants on a free transfer.

The 32-year-old Gabon international had not played for Arsenal since December when he was stripped of the captaincy by Arteta after returning late from an agreed break.

Asked at his unveiling as a Barca player what had happened in London, Aubameyang said: “I don’t think I did anything wrong. I think (the problem) was just with him. He wasn’t happy. I was calm and that’s it.”

But Arteta countered those claims as he addressed reporters on the eve of Arsenal’s Premier League trip to Wolves.

“You ask the question directly to me, so I respond,” he said.

“I am extremely grateful for what Auba has done at the club, for his contribution since I have been here and the way I see myself in that relationship is the solution, not the problem.

“What I am saying is that I’ve been this solution, 100 percent, I can look in the eye of anybody.

“I do lot of things wrong, for sure. But the intention all the time is the best — and not for me, it is for the club and for the team.”

The onus on scoring the goals to keep alive Arsenal’s top-four ambitions in the absence of Aubameyang now falls on Alexandre Lacazette and Eddie Nketiah.

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